


Ashes to Ashes

by live_laugh_read



Series: Billabong Missing Moments [26]
Category: Billabong Series - Mary Grant Bruce
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 12:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12190299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/live_laugh_read/pseuds/live_laugh_read
Summary: In which David Linton and his children lay his wife to rest following Norah's traumatic birth.





	Ashes to Ashes

David Linton had no idea what was happening.

 

Or, to tell the truth, he didn’t wish to acknowledge what was happening.

 

Vaguely, he felt three-year-old Jim, dressed in his Sunday best, pressing against his father’s leg, seeking the reassurance that David himself craved. In his arms he held his newborn daughter — week-old Norah, who was wrapped in a black blanket to ward out the chill. 

 

It was funny, that, he thought, because it shouldn’t be chilly in November. 

 

His gaze was fixed on a brown mahogany coffin which sat before him, resting on three strong pieces of timber above the rectangular hole in the ground, a spray of Irish roses and Australian wattle atop the smooth lid.

 

Inside was his wife, who had gone too soon.

 

 _Gone to sleep_ , he had told Jim. _We have to look after Norah for her_. 

 

To his credit, his son blinked away tears and said _It doesn’t hurt anymore_?

 

 _No, son, it doesn’t_. They meant Mary, of course. David wasn’t sure if the pain would ever end, for him. 

 

He closed his eyes, trying to block out the memory of his wife in her final moments, pale and weak, giving him a brave smile even as her life drew to a close. His wife, asking Murty to look after her boys and Norah with all the strength she could muster. And then, at the last, uttering his name with her final breath, her grey eyes slipping shut for ever, the grip on his hand slackening.

 

The choir was singing, and he opened his eyes to see the pallbearers stepping back up to the coffin, preparing to lower her down. 

 

_Shall we meet beyond the river,_

_where the surges cease to roll?_

_Where in all the bright forever,_

_sorrow ne’er shall press the soul?_

 

One by one, with a clunking sound, the timber slats were removed, leaving the pallbearers with three strong pieces of leather which passed underneath the coffin, held at either end. 

 

_Shall we meet in that blest harbour,_

_when our stormy voyage is o’er?_

_Shall we meet and cast the anchor_

_by the fair, celestial shore?_

 

“Lower!” Once, hand over hand. Twice. Three times. 

 

David never glanced away as his wife was lowered to her final resting place; he shifted Norah to one arm and rested the other hand gently on Jim’s brown head. The two children she had given him to remember her by.

 

_Shall we meet in yonder city,_

_where the towers of crystal shine?_

_Where the walls are all of jasper,_

_built by workmanship divine?_

 

The coffin was out of sight now, and he dared not step closer to glimpse it one last time. He wasn’t sure if he could anyway, rooted to the ground as he was. He forced himself to listen to the singing, Mary Linton’s final farewell.

 

_Shall we meet with Christ our Saviour,_

_when He comes to claim His own?_

_Shall we know His blessèd favour,_

_and sit down upon His throne?_

 

Almost as one, the six pallbearers threw the leather ropes down and stepped back. 

 

_Shall we meet, shall we meet,_

_Shall we meet beyond the river?_

_Shall we meet beyond the river,_

_where the surges cease to roll?_

 

Mr. Carrington met David’s eyes briefly, and there was no shortage of sorrow there, before he spoke.

 

“We have entrusted our sister Mary to God’s mercy, and we now commit her body to the ground: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our frail bodies that they may be conformed to his glorious body, who died, was buried, and rose again for us. To Him be glory for ever. Amen.” 

 

There was a scattered _amen_ from the congregation, and then the clergyman looked again at David, giving him a short nod; David stepped forward and squatted beside the grave, coaxing Jim forward. With one hand, he helped Jim pick up a handful of soil, motioning to his son to throw it onto the coffin. David followed suit, whispering, “For Norah,” before tossing one last handful for himself.

 

“Support us, O Lord, all the day long of this troublous life, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over and our work is done. Then, Lord, in your mercy grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

 

Mr. Carrington spread his arms, Holy Bible in one hand, and gave the final blessing. “May God give you his comfort and his peace, his light and his joy, in this world and the next; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.”

 

The word echoed through the congregation, hushed, and then the mourners started to slowly filter away, allowing David and his children some final moments with the wife and mother who had been so loved, and yet taken too soon. 

 

“I’ll see you one day, little mother,” he murmured. “I will take the slow path, and raise Jim and Norah to be people that you would be proud of, and when my work is done I will join you. But until then — go, in peace and love.” 

 

Jim put his hand on his father’s shoulder, and then rested his head there, as if knowing how it pained David so to commit Jim’s mother’s soul unto a place where they could not follow. 

 

Not yet.

 

_So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross,_

_till my trophies at last I lay down._

_I will cling to the old rugged Cross,_

_and exchange it some day for a crown_.

 

 **Fini**.

**Author's Note:**

> Mrs. Linton's first name is given in the series as Helen (in Mates at Billabong) and later as Mary (a few books later, I can't remember which). I chose to go with Mary.
> 
> "Shall We Meet Beyond the River" was composed in 1858 by Horace L. Hastings. For greatest effect listen to the version on YouTube posted by SE Samonte (2008). 
> 
> The final verse is the chorus of "The Old Rugged Cross", which was not composed until 1913 (fifteen years after Mrs. Linton's death) but is intended here as a placeholder to evoke ALL THE FEELINGS.
> 
> Mr. Carrington, the clergyman, is the same one who married Wally and Norah and, later, Jim and Tommy; he seems to know the family well enough that I think he must have been around for quite some time, and thus have buried Mrs. Linton and baptised both Jim and Norah, if not also married Mr. and Mrs. Linton.


End file.
